At camp we often talk about the value of relationships and encourage personal interactions with people of all ages. Learning how to build relationships and cultivate friendships are great life skills that our girls work on every day. Our campers old and new will often say that camp is where you make your ‘best friends’ that ‘last forever’ and where people love you unconditionally.

At camp we live together 24/7 and share the ups and downs of everyday life; we bond on a level not often found with friends in our schools or towns.  We develop new relationships as well as build on old ones that have formed over our summers of being together in this special place.  Runoia girls will say “camp is where they are their true self” or “ at camp I am the real me”.  Relationships seem stronger and truer compared to other venues where they feel that they may have to ‘fake it’ to make the connection. Runoia friends don’t care if you area math whiz, good at soccer or like pickles they value you for who you are and the great times you have together.

Throughout the summer we share hopes and dreams, make goals and meet challenges and help each other to have the time of our lives. 

Camp love is…

... a place where everyone knows your name

... because you have friends for life

... where you always have hand to hold walking down the path to the lake

... where you can be “sisters for the summer”

... a chance at starting fresh or starting where you left off last year

... S’mores

... singing “Rolling over the billows”

... hearing a loon call echoing across the lake

... feeling the glow of a Sunday Campfire

... Runoia

Happy Valentine’s Day - Share the Runoia Love – we hope your hearts are filled with anticipation for your new summer at Runoia. For returning campers: filled with the memories of summers past. And, for all: hopes and dreams for the summers to come.                                                

Written by Alex Jackson for the Runoia Team

Are you plagued with thoughts like, “Are my children getting the best education? Are they eating right? How is plastic affecting my child’s health? What about the bullies that plague her life – what if she is the bully? Who is she texting on her cell phone and why does she have to sleep with said cell phone?!” Undoubtedly, the list goes on. Fortunately, a lot of professionals are writing and weighing in on some of your concerns and here are links for everyday life and a good night sleep:

Rachel Simmons with a series of “Real Girl Tips” including: the disadvantage of taking criticism too personally “Your Teacher Doesn’t Hate You” plus she has children and teens writing on her website with sound bites your daughter may like to log onto.
http://www.rachelsimmons.com/

Normal Conflict or Bullying? From Stephen Wallace’s article Susquehanna University Press: This article, specifically titled for the past holiday season, has many tips and signs of bullying which you may find helpful to explore: http://www.susqu.edu/academics/41181.asp

Are you feeling politically charged after the holidays and seeing all the junk marketed to girls? Are you outraged by young girls’ clothing and what’s being marketed to them? Hardy Girls Healthy Women is helping girls to recognize “the sexualization of girls in the media” – seven year old thongs emblazoned with “I love Rich Boys” and Marc Jacob’s perfume for girls: Oh, Lola! Don’t fear (too much), HGHW is doing something about it. Learn more about activism opportunities for your daughter (and you) at www.hghw.org

If you’ve reflected on our blog from last month (now on our website: www.runoia.com) you will feel great about your choices by reading from Psychology Today’s December issue online about how summer camp creates an advantage in college: http://my.psychologytoday.com/blog/smores-and-more/201112/creating-advantage-in-college

And can feel even better by reading Russell Roeder’s editorial “Best Gift for Kids” in the Pennlive news: http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/11/best_gift_for_kids_send_them_t.html?mid=5409

If you’re still here, reading this blog, and worried about how this is all going to come together, have a little fun with yourself by reading Katherine Ozment’s article in Boston Magazine, December issue, “Welcome to the Age of Overparenting, How I learned to let my kids be kids.”
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/boston_home_vert/articles/the_age_of_overparenting/

And, above all, get a good night sleep in 2012!

Aionur

  A thank you letter to those who have given the gift of camp...

We the recipients of this world class - life changing gift want to say thank you.  Thank you for giving us summers spent at camp.  Your gift, whether for three weeks or ten plus years, has created a place within our soul where happiness and confidence reside side by side. It is a place that we can reach into on the coldest of days and re-use the strength and light to provide for ourselves and those around us.  Perhaps you gave this gift of camp decades ago or just last summer - please know that each day we use it and cherish it.

In this age of reduced recess, iEverything, where even email is becoming passe, we are the ones who connect with our natural world at a deeper level.  We have seen sunrises and sunsets, heard the loons echoing across the lake, lived with spiders (and gotten along) learned that rain is beautiful and not an inconvenience.  We have sat with true friends, sung songs and absorbed the beauty of an evening campfire.  We have run pell-mell through fields as the evening turned to night, determined to complete the Evening Program created for us by our cherished counselors.  We have made it to the top of mountains that many do not even know exist and paddeled lakes that seem not to have any end.  We have learned to shower less, laugh more, and appreciate the joy of a true friend.  Your gift has given us all this.   

We see the value in growing some of our own vegtables and protecting our trees from insects in a natural way. We know that listening to an evening story read aloud by our counselors is far more compelling than any movie or video game "they" can create.  We recognize that being a part of a larger community has responsibility, so we help clean our cabin, we set the tables and we take care of one another.   

We learn skills that come in handy at the oddest of moments.  We learn how to tie bowlines, chop wood, gallop on a horse.  We stand on water skis, we swim to Oak Island in the early morning, we paddle canoes - make baskets - fly from the zip line.  We sing and dance and act in front of almost 200 people, we can whip up costumes and games out of thin air.  We can live away from our parents at a young age and THRIVE.  We can return home and amaze all who love us with our strength, determination and confidence.  We have been given the gift of camp, we are self-sufficient, caring, talented leaders who will one day also give the gift of camp.

Thank you for taking the chance to send us to camp, for helping keep us out of the growing statistics of children who do not have a relationship with the natural world.  Thank you for loving us and believing in us.

Sincerely,  

All of the Camp Runoia Girls and Women since 1907